Schönhausen Palace

Schönhausen’s estate in the vicinity of Berlin was acquired in 1662 by a countess from the Don family. In 1664 she built a three-storey mansion in the Dutch style here, and in 1680 she sold the estate to Field Marshal Grumbkov's father. 11 years later, his widow Schönhausen acquired the elector Frederick I.

A small restructuring of the existing facilities was entrusted to Johann Arnold Nering . In 1704, Eosander von Goethe took up the construction of additional single-storey outbuildings of the palace, which increased the residential apartments of the royal couple.

The garden adjacent to the palace was also equipped accordingly. After the king’s death in 1713, his son Friedrich Wilhelm I handed over the house to house officials, and the land was partially leased. The palace in these years came to desolation.

At this time, Elizaveta Christina , the wife of Frederick the crown prince , visited the Schönhausen palace. She liked the palace on the Pank river very much. Having ascended to the throne, Frederick II presented Schönhausen to his wife as a summer palace. From 1740 to 1797, the Queen spent every summer in Schönhausen. Elizabeth Christine spent all her money on a rococo ornamental garden attached to the palace, so she did not have enough money for repairs and arrangement of the palace itself. The couple did not live together, and Frederick had never been to Schönhausen. In the palace of Sanssouci , where Frederick the Great lived in the summer, Elizaveta Christina visited only once.

During the Seven Years' War, during the Berlin raid of Russian troops at the end of September 1760, the palace suffered serious damage from shelling. Queen Elizabeth Christine was forced to leave Schönhausen and escaped to the fortress of Magdeburg . The palace was destroyed by the Russian troops that reached Berlin. In 1764, the king allocated funds for its restructuring, in this form the palace has survived to the present. Both side wings were built in height to the level of the main building, and the courtyard was covered by a wide staircase.

After the death of Elizabeth Christine in 1797, Frederick Mecklenburg-Strelitzka , sister of Queen Louise , lived for some time, inviting Peter Joseph Lenne to decorate the English-style palace park in 1828-1829. Starting from the second half of the XIX century, the palace served as a warehouse for storing furniture and paintings.

After the overthrow of the Prussian monarchy , Schönhausen Palace in 1920 became the property of the state. In 1935, when the National Socialists Palace was rebuilt for exhibitions. In the 1940s, there were numerous exhibitions of the Imperial Chamber of Fine Arts. Here were brought to the storage and works of " degenerative art ." Works of Ernst Barlach , Wilhelm Lembruck , Vincent van Gogh and Franz Marc were stored in the halls of the palace.

During the battles for Berlin, the palace received minor damage, which were eliminated in 1945 on the initiative of artists from Pankov . Already in September 1945, an art exhibition was held here. Soon the palace was requisitioned by the Soviet military administration under an officer's club. Later in the palace housed a school and boarding school for Soviet children.

After the formation of the German Democratic Republic on October 7, 1949, Schönhausen’s palace was transferred to the GDR and from 1949 to 1960 served as the official residence of the President of the GDR, Wilhelm Pick . The palace was rebuilt again, and the inner garden was separated from the outer park by a wall. In contrast to the hermetically sealed outer perimeter of the park, the palace garden turned out to be bright and open by landscape architect Reinhold Lingner , in the typical style of the 1950s . The palace began to perform representative functions in the GDR: high state guests such as Ho Chi Minh and N. S. Khrushchev were received here.

After the death of Peak, the State Council of the GDR was temporarily located in the palace, which in 1964 moved to a new building in the center. Here in the Parade Hall was held its first meeting in 1960 . Further, government guests were placed in the palace, and at that time the palace was called “Niedershönhausen”. Indira Gandhi and Fidel Castro stayed here. The last guests of the palace were USSR President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and his wife .

At the end of the 1980s , at a crucial moment for the modern history of Germany, the Berlin round of talks “two plus four” took place in the palace, as the memorial plaque on the building reminds of. After the unification of Germany, the palace was for some time in federal ownership. In 1991, in Schönhausen, during her state visit to Germany, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands stopped. Later, the Schönhausen Palace was transferred to the state of Berlin.

100 years after the founding of the IOC at the invitation of Christian Kirsch, representatives of public organizations from different countries of the world arrived at the Schönhausen Palace in Berlin in 1994 at the Founding Congress of the International Delphic Council ^{[2] [3] [4]} , who decided to hold the International Delphic Games ^{[ 5]} .

The plans for placement in the temporary residence of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany for the period of reconstruction of the Bellevue Palace that were discussed in 2003 were not implemented for financial reasons.

Since 2005, restoration work began in the Schönhausen Palace, which provided for the restoration of the first floor of the rooms of the era of Elizabeth Christine using the most valuable interior items. In addition to the original fireplaces, mirror frames and plating, it was decided to place in the palace historic furniture and the first permanent exhibition dedicated to Queen Elizabeth Christine.

The main hall, the only fully preserved interior in the rococo style in Berlin, after restoration was decided to be used for various concerts, lectures and festive receptions. On the upper floors, the representative rooms of the times of the GDR are preserved: apartments intended for state guests, and the preserved furnishings of the Wilhelm Pick cabinet.

In December 2009, after the restoration work was completed, the palace and park were reopened to the public.

• Lars-Holger Thümmler: Schloß Schönhausen in Niederschönhausen ; (Der historische Ort 178); Kai Homilius Verlag: Berlin 1997; ISBN 3-89706-177-5 . (him)
• Folkwin Wendland: Berlins Gärten und Parke von der Gründung der Stadt bis zum ausgehenden neunzehnten Jahrhundert ; (Das klassische Berlin); Propyläen: Berlin 1979; S. 297-308; ISBN 3-549-06645-7 . (him)
• Dirk Finkemeier und Elke Röllig: Vom Petit Palais zum Gästehaus - Die Geschichte von Schloß und Park Schönhausen in Pankow , Berlin 1998. (him)

• Schönhausen Palace on the website of the Berlin-Brandenburg Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens (German)